I guess the first thing I should say is that shutouts, while awesome, are kind of a silly way to evaluate a goalie. Goalies don’t control the number of shots they face, just the percentage of that number they stop. That in mind, I thought we’d do a quick comparison of how these guys came to be the league’s shutout leaders.

Games Played

Goalie

GP

Rinne

19

Smith

16

Holtby

14

Shots Faced in Shutouts

Goalie

SA

Rinne

76

Smith

80

Holtby

95

So Holtby faced (and stopped) more shots in his three shutouts, and he earned them in fewer games than his elite competition. Now I’m not saying Braden Holtby is Superman; I’m just saying I’ve never seen the two of them in the same place at the same time.

NOTE: I had Rinne’s shots against wrong in an earlier version of this post.